BASEBALL

BASEBALL; Cubs' Prior Is Polished Beyond His Years

By BUSTER OLNEY

Published: April 3, 2003

Tom Seaver has spent most of his lifetime signing autographs and grinning for cameras, but this week Seaver, a Hall of Fame pitcher, had a request of his own and asked the Chicago Cubs' Mark Prior to take a picture with him.

Seaver and Prior share a legacy as products of the University of Southern California, and Prior, like Seaver, is a right-handed power pitcher. But Seaver told an acquaintance he wanted the picture in part because he believes Prior is going to have an exceptional career.

Prior will be 22 years 6 months 28 days old when he pitches against the Mets today. He was drafted in 2001 and has less than a full season in the major leagues, with six victories to his credit. There is a leaguewide perception, however, that Prior is polished to such a degree after one season in professional baseball that he is prepared to immediately establish himself as one of the game's elite pitchers.

''He might be the finest young arm we've seen come out of the draft in a long time,'' Kevin Towers, general manager of the San Diego Padres, said.

John Stockstill, the scouting director for the Cubs, said, ''You just don't see players like that.''

Damian Miller joined the Cubs this season after five years with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and after catching Prior in the bullpen in spring training, he remarked to teammates how much Prior reminded him of Curt Schilling. Not Curt Schilling as an unfinished young pitcher a decade ago, but Curt Schilling as he is now, as a refined veteran.

''He has the same competitiveness, and he's got command of three pitches,'' Miller said. ''He's probably as far along as I've ever seen a 22-year-old kid be. A finished product at 22 -- you can tell not only by his stuff, but by his demeanor on the mound.

''He makes pitches when he has to. You would think that a 22-year-old kid would fall apart on the mound, but he just doesn't. That's what impressed me the most.''

Prior is among the few players to turn down the Yankees in the last decade. They drafted him out of high school in 1998, and after a summer of negotiating, Prior rejected a final offer of $1.4 million from the Yankees and enrolled at Vanderbilt. He subsequently transferred, and by the summer of 2000 it was conventional wisdom that Prior would be the most coveted pitcher in the coming draft.

When Stockstill and other scouts saw him in the spring of 2001, Prior threw his fastball consistently in the low-90's. But every so often, Stockstill recalled, Prior would reach 96 or 97 miles an hour -- hints of more power to come, particularly because scouts could see Prior had the strong lower body, the thick legs, needed to sustain that kind of fastball.

Prior showed a great curveball, as well, and he could throw different types of curveballs at different speeds, spinning all of his breaking balls low. Stockstill saw this and believed Prior could quickly ascend to the majors.

Most young pitchers have a period of adjustment as they move through each level, from college to the lowest levels of the minors and eventually to the majors, but Prior threw a major-league-caliber fastball, major league curveballs, with command perfectly suited for the majors.

Prior, who declined an interview request yesterday, pitched briefly in the minors at the outset of the 2002 season before joining the Cubs last May, and in 19 starts, he allowed only 98 hits and 38 walks in 116 innings. Opposing hitters batted only .176 with runners in scoring position against him.

Prior will mix his fastball and breaking balls and keep everything down, but when the count reaches two strikes, he will often finish off hitters with high fastballs. He struck out 147 batters in 116 innings.

''Curt will throw a lot of high fastballs, and Prior does the same thing,'' Miller said.

Kerry Wood, the Cubs' 25-year-old star pitcher, has speed bumps and wrinkles in his delivery, and because of this, he can place enormous torque on his elbow and has required major surgery. But Prior's mechanics are smooth, fluid, consistent. He looks as if he is throwing easily, Miller said, releasing the ball close to his head, like a catcher -- and not unlike the way Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera throws.

You always hope young pitchers can stay healthy, Stockstill said, ''but he's got so much going for him, in his fundamentals.''

Towers said: ''You look at his delivery and you can tell he is going to be at a very low risk for an injury. He's got the type of motion that will keep him around for a long time.''

And perhaps in 15 or 20 years, Tom Seaver can show off a picture and be able to say he recognized greatness early.